South Korean Investigators Request To Extend President Yoon’s Detention

South Korea’s anti-corruption agency said it would ask a Seoul court to extend the detention of arrested President Yoon Suk Yeol as the leader again refused to be questioned by investigators.

On Wednesday, Yoon became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested, over a probe into whether he committed insurrection when he briefly imposed martial law in early December. He is being held at the Seoul Detention Centre.

In order to hold Yoon in custody for longer, investigators at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) that is leading the inquiry need to request a court to approve a detention warrant for up to 20 days.

“I think you can consider it almost finished,” a CIO official told reporters, responding to a question on whether investigators were set to file a request to detain Yoon further.

The official told reporters Yoon’s current arrest term was due to expire by Friday evening.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Central District Court struck down a challenge on Thursday from Yoon’s lawyers over the legality of his arrest.

The former president stonewalled efforts by the CIO to interrogate him on Thursday and again on Friday while his party has capitalised on political polarisation to improve its approval ratings since Yoon’s arrest, polling showed.

“He has fully stated his basic position on the first day (of the arrest), and we believe there is no reason or need to answer the Q&A style back-and-forth,” Yoon’s lawyer, Seok Dong-hyeon, said in a statement.

The suspended president’s legal team has denied Yoon masterminded an insurrection, a crime in South Korea punishable by life imprisonment or even technically by the death penalty.

Seok said that he expected investigators to seek a detention warrant, but hoped there would be a more careful and comprehensive consideration of the arrest’s ‘illegality’ when a court reviewed the warrant.

South Korea is grappling with its worst political crisis in decades, sparked by Yoon’s brief attempt to impose martial law on December 3 which stunned the nation and was swiftly voted down by parliament.

Yoon was impeached on December 14 and he faces a Constitutional Court trial that started this week to decide whether to permanently suspend his powers or return him to office.

REUTERS/Christopher Ojilere